Paul Boyle can recall the precise date very vividly: it was a chilly evening on January 12th, a Friday. This was right before all the chaos ensued. That day during their routine drills, the hurling players from Antrim were presented with an opportunity for cardiac screening. This entire endeavour had been arranged by the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA). A medical practitioner and a healthcare nurse were present at the location. Participation wasn’t obligatory. Antrim’s coach, Darren Gleeson, on the other hand, was completely onboard. It could be described as gentle persuasion, perhaps. Everyone chose to participate.
Boyle spent almost 70 minutes on the field two days after, competing against Dublin in the Walsh Cup. He bagged three points from the game. The very next day, he was instructed to discontinue playing.
A person named Jackie from Advanced Medical Systems contacted him. His Electrocardiogram (ECG) had raised some concern. Boyle couldn’t tell any difference; there were no perceivable symptoms. He felt as healthy as ever. Young and physically fit. He refused to believe anything was wrong.
“I remember telling Jackie over the call, ‘No, I think it’s a mistake,’” Boyle recalls. “There’s nothing wrong with me, I’m sure of it. I can sense if there’s something amiss with my heart. I would feel it. Throughout my entire life, my heart never gave me any trouble. No discomfort in the chest, nothing of that sort. I insisted that Jackie had made an error. A misinterpretation perhaps. It’s impossible for there to be anything wrong with my heart.”
The Mayo footballers followed the same protocol during the second weekend of February. They had an appointment at Castlebar Hospital. It was the same drill; GPA-arranged cardiac screening, consent-based, swift and efficient.
A week later, Saoirse Lally started receiving a call from an unknown number. It was Advanced Medical Systems again. She was informed of some issues with her ECG. Lally, like Boyle, was in disbelief.
“I was convinced the ECG was mistaken,” she now admits. “I thought there’s no way I might have a health issue. I felt absolutely fine, went out for training that very night. Next day, a Dublin-based clinic contacted me, recommending I undergo the cardiac procedure.
“To be frank, I didn’t really wish to know the full details. The clinic was quite persuasive about me getting the procedure done. That first call was a complete shocker; I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through with it. It took me a week or so to fully comprehend the situation.”
Boyle and Lally were both found to have Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition characterised by an additional electrical route in their hearts, causing an accelerated heart rate. Lally found that her heart’s lower chambers contracted at an increased rate, leading to insufficient blood circulation.
Boyle, in an effort to understand his diagnosis, turned to Google. The procedure to correct this condition presents a high success rate, with the main challenge being its early detection. If kept unknown and left untreated, the strenuous physical activity typical in elite athletes can pose a risk. Pondering about the potential inaction was a perilous path that had no future prospect.
Pursuing a second opinion from the Northern Ireland Health Service, Boyle’s initial diagnosis was reaffirmed. He met with Dr Jonathan Lyne, a cardiologist from the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin, on February 22. Boyle claims that he felt normal during the month-long gap following the screening. Despite the specialists’ advice not to engage in any kind of activity before visiting Dr Lyne, Boyle and his father were given a more serious perspective of his condition.
He was informed that his lifestyle could be maintained, but engaging in sports would no longer be possible unless he underwent the procedure. Furthermore, Dr Lyne made it clear that it was not a matter of ‘if’, but rather ‘when’, Boyle would face a cardiac occurrence of varying degrees, from minor to severe, such as a heart attack or a stroke. He was surprised that Boyle had had no dizzy episodes or fainting.
Boyle never experienced any symptoms while Lally had failed to recognise hers. She was advised to pause during a pre-Christmas training session when her breathlessness became problematic. She thought nothing of it, having become accustomed to breathlessness during her football games.
Lally had initially attributed his lack of fitness to his own inadequacies, assuming he should have been aware if he had any heart problems. Despite extensive training over six years with the Mayo senior team, his fitness level never seemed to improve. This inability left him perplexed as he had invested the same physical effort as his teammates.
He dismissed any pre-procedure enquiries about his symptoms, assuming his shortness of breath was merely due to poor physical conditioning, not a possible heart concern. Reflecting on why he was quickly fatigued during his 16 years of training, everything now falls into place.
The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has long prioritised cardiac screening. The number of male players screened in 2020 stood at 284; this figure increased significantly to 520, including male and female players, two years later, and rose to 737 last year.
However, given a total membership of around 4,000, there is a disconcerting disparity in the figures. Despite the free offer extended by the GPA, not all intercounty panels participate. Each Electrocardiogram (ECG) takes approximately 20 minutes; calculating this for 30 players gives a sense of the time investment needed. It seems some fail to see the urgency in this matter as they have yet to take up the invitation.
Promoting awareness is the key task. Earlier in the year, the representative entities for soccer, rugby, jockey athletes, as well as the GPA grouped to establish the Irish Athletes Alliance. Their foremost policy aim is to petition the Government for mandatory cardiac screening for all supreme athletes. Reflecting on Italy’s 25-year norm of compulsory cardiac screening for all sportspeople, they also endorse the advice of the European Society of Cardiology to screen anyone partaking in competitive sport every two years.
The Dillon Quirke Foundation, which was founded in remembrance of a young hurler from Tipperary who passed away due to Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (Sads), is aimed at young adolescents for early detection and intervention. Compulsory medical screening in Italy has led to an 89 per cent reduction in Sads-related deaths. In contrast, Ireland witnesses two deaths per week from Sads in people below the age of 35. These figures emphasize the effectiveness of prevention as the best form of treatment.
The medical intervention for this condition involves a process called ablation, which controls the heart’s electrical activity by eliminating some of its surrounding nerves. Boyle recalls entering the Blackrock Clinic for this procedure on March 22nd. The following day, doctors found it necessary to repeat the operation. However, he received the all-clear on April 10th.
During his recovery, Boyle stayed active with the Antrim panel, doing some mild cycling while connected to a cardiac monitor or engaging in ball-striking drills when required for equal team numbers. Post-surgery, he was on anticoagulants for a fortnight, and the surgical point on his groin needed time to recover. Apart from these, there were no more limitations placed on him.
His first game post-operation was for Loughgiel, after participating in Antrim’s training panel – the first since mid-January – proving that the dangerous situation was finally under control. Despite admittedly running out of breath during the latter half of the game, he managed to score five goals during the first half.
Boyle candidly shares that his mother was worried about his return to the sport. He, however, insists he had no alternative due to his lack of familiarity with any other path. People uninvolved in sports, or unfamiliar with hurling, often don’t understand the passion associated with it. In his own words, Boyle said he may have been somewhat self-centred but was oblivious to the severity of the situation.
“My mother likely values this the most,” I reckon. She was highly concerned. Was I aware of my good fortune then? Perhaps not. Yet, for my mum and dad, there was no question. My mother even mentioned that I might only comprehend my luck five or ten years from now. My sole worry was returning to the game.”
Lally, as well, has returned to play, post-procedure. It is believed that she’s has had this condition since her birth. It was never detected, never investigated, it didn’t crossed anyone’s mind. “In fact,” she comments, “this might have quite possibly saved my life – there’s not a shadow of a doubt.”
This weekend, Galway squares off against Mayo in the Connacht final. It’s not a matter of life or death, admittedly.